Williams may get early recall

Collingwood is considering drafting back pocket Marley Williams into the team after just one VFL game as a replacement for the injured Alex Fasolo.

Meanwhile, Carlton running back Chris Yarran remains a slim chance to play in the Friday night blockbuster despite being substituted out of last week's win with a hamstring injury. The club has said Yarran would be tested later in the week but had yet to be ruled out of contention.

Yarran would need to train well in Wednesday's session to be cleared fit. Andrew Carrazzo also faces a fitness test but is expected to be clear to play.

Williams played in the VFL last weekend after missing the early rounds due to his pending court appearance, but trained solidly throughout the period.

Williams twisted an ankle and suffered a knock to the shin in the same incident in the three quarters he played of the VFL game, but it proved to be bruising leaving him fit to play this week. The injury however clouds the idea of a possible return to the senior team which would seem unlikely after only one VFL game. More likely would be for key defender Nathan Brown to come in as a replacement for Fasolo given Carlton would be expected to play three tall forwards in Levi Casboult, Lachie Henderson and Michael Jamison.

Collingwood is eager to bring him back in the side as it has lacked a defender to lock down on fast small forwards. Others such as Sam Dwyer and Taylor Adams, while not defenders, would also come into consideration.

At St Kilda, defender Sam Gilbert's injured foot is not improving as expected and he will miss essentially the rest of the season with the club ruling him out for nine to 10 weeks.

''Obviously, we are disappointed that Sam's foot injury hasn't repaired to the extent we had anticipated. We will reassess his recovery in coming weeks before being able to determine a more exact date for his return,'' Saints head of football Chris Pelchen said.

Rookie Eli Templeton also had surgery to repair the arm he broke in the win over Brisbane in Wellington on Anzac Day. He is expected to miss up to four months. Tough inside midfielder David Armitage is still likely to miss up to another month as he recovers from the deep gash in his leg suffered when he tackled Adelaide's Paddy Dangerfield. The sole of Dangerfield's boot cut Armitage's leg as the Saints dived to tackle him.

Armitage spent more than a week in hospital and will yet spend another three to four weeks recovering from the wound.